Download RC Pair for your computer

Install the app, then use its window to pair your phone.

Your phone needs Wi-Fi, or a hotspot from another phone, to reach the Mac. The phone's own cellular data does not work.

1. 1Check the download

   Open Terminal and go to your Downloads folder.

   Terminal

   cd ~/Downloads
   shasum -a 256 -c --ignore-missing SHA256SUMS

   It must say OK for the dmg. To check the signature too, first install minisign with brew install minisign. Homebrew is needed for that install, but the checksum step works without it. Then run this command.

   Terminal

   minisign -Vm SHA256SUMS -P RWRoIORzl8Yx6rI5jJ+t7T3ugGMRyDwW0S2y7fvAQ5uiL9+lJkyt/9wx

   The signature check must report a valid signature. If either check fails, stop before opening the disk image.

2. 2Install and open

   Open the dmg and drag RC Pair to Applications. Open it from there. macOS asks once whether you want to open an app downloaded from the internet. Choose Open.

3. 3Pair your phone

   Complete the phone app's setup through pairing in Settings, then come back here to send the pairing.

   Check the box to confirm this is your phone or its user agreed. Follow the app window to its QR code.

   On the phone, open Apple's Camera app (not RC Pair) and point it at the code. Tap the link it shows to open RC Pair. Check the computer's name and address, then tap Send.

   Your phone and Mac must reach each other over a private network, such as the same Wi-Fi.

4. 4Get the disk image

   The window has a button to copy Apple's developer disk image from Xcode on this Mac. You need Xcode installed to use that button. Another button downloads a pinned public copy from GitHub.

   RC Pair checks every file against fixed checksums. We host nothing. Apple's terms govern the file.

   The download contacts GitHub. With either source, preparing the image for your phone contacts Apple's signing server, which receives your device's identifiers.

5. 5Connect your agent

   Under Connect your agent, the window shows commands that add RC Pair to your agent. The agent and RC Pair must run on the same computer. Running the agent on a different computer is not supported yet. Copy the one for your agent and run it in a terminal on this Mac.

   RC Pair tells your agent not to tap Apple's consent screens. It cannot stop an agent that does, so watch the phone while it works. Your agent may send what it sees to the company that runs it.

The signing and notarization checks passed, but we have not yet opened this build on a real Mac, on either Apple silicon or Intel. Tell us what breaks at support@rcpair.si.

Use a terminal on your laptop. For a server, download the files on your laptop and copy them with scp, then run the setup steps over SSH. Or fetch the files on the server as shown below.

1. 1Check the download

   First install minisign. On Ubuntu or Debian, run sudo apt install minisign. Then check the files from the folder where you saved them.

   Terminal

   sha256sum -c --ignore-missing SHA256SUMS
   minisign -Vm SHA256SUMS -P RWRoIORzl8Yx6rI5jJ+t7T3ugGMRyDwW0S2y7fvAQ5uiL9+lJkyt/9wx

   The first line must say OK for your file. The second must say the signature is valid. The public key is the string after -P.

2. 2Unpack and put it on your path

   Use the unpack command that matches your uname -m result.

   x86_64

   tar xzf rcpair-0.2.0-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz

   aarch64

   tar xzf rcpair-0.2.0-aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz

   Then install the program.

   Terminal

   mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
   install -m 755 rcpair-0.2.0-*/rcpair ~/.local/bin/rcpair
   export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"
   rcpair --version

   Add that export line to your shell profile so it stays.

3. 3Make the connection private

   Your phone and computer must reach each other over a private network. At home, the same Wi-Fi is enough.

   For a VPS, put Tailscale on the server and phone, sign both into the same Tailscale network, and confirm both show as online before you continue. Use the server's Tailscale address. Run tailscale ip -4 on the server to see it. Guest and hotel Wi-Fi often blocks devices from reaching each other. Use Tailscale there too. Even with Tailscale, the phone needs Wi-Fi, or a hotspot from another phone, to reach the computer. The phone's own cellular data does not work.

   The phone sends the pairing only to a private address. RC Pair runs no service in between.

4. 4Send the pairing to the computer

   Complete the phone app's setup through pairing in Settings, then come back here to send the pairing.

   Terminal

   rcpair receive

   Use a terminal that supports color to see the QR code. RC Pair waits up to ten minutes. It listens on all of the computer's network interfaces while it waits. The phone sends only to a private address, and only after you tap Send.

   On a server, add --host with the server's Tailscale IP address if RC Pair picks the wrong one. The phone still needs Wi-Fi, or a hotspot from another phone. Its own cellular data does not work.

   On the phone, open Apple's Camera app (not RC Pair) and point it at the code. Tap the link it shows to open RC Pair. Check the computer's name and address, then tap Send.

   Over SSH, the QR code shows in the terminal. Or copy the rcpair:// link it prints and tap Paste link in the phone app.

5. 5Check it and get the disk image

   Terminal

   rcpair status
   rcpair image status

   rcpair status lists your phone once it is paired. Until a disk image is in place, rcpair image status prints an error about a missing BuildManifest.plist. That is expected.

   The phone needs Apple's developer disk image once per device, and again after an iOS update. The Mac app's window has a button to copy it from Xcode. The app also includes a command line tool. With RC Pair in Applications and Xcode installed, run "/Applications/RC Pair.app/Contents/MacOS/rcpair" image import in Terminal on the Mac.

   For a server, use the Mac app's copy-from-Xcode button, then copy ~/.rcpair/ddi from the Mac to the server. Run rcpair image import <folder> on the server with the copied folder's path. See rcpair image import --help for import options.

   If no image is present, rcpair serve also downloads a pinned public copy onto your computer. It checks every file against fixed checksums. We host nothing.

   The download contacts GitHub. With either source, preparing the image for your phone contacts Apple's signing server, which receives your device's identifiers. Apple's terms govern the file.

6. 6Keep it running

   These background service steps need systemd. Once started, the service downloads Apple's disk image from GitHub if none is imported. If you do not want that, set up the optional download setting at the end of this step before you run the commands below.

   Terminal

   mkdir -p ~/.config/systemd/user
   cp rcpair-0.2.0-*/rcpair.service ~/.config/systemd/user/
   systemctl --user daemon-reload
   systemctl --user enable --now rcpair
   loginctl enable-linger "$USER"

   The last line keeps it running on a server after you log out. To stop it, run systemctl --user stop rcpair. To stop it from the phone, turn off Developer Mode in Settings, Privacy and Security.

   Optional: turn off the image download

   This only suits a server that already has an imported image. With the download off and no image, the phone cannot finish setup.

   To turn the download off for a terminal session, run RCPAIR_DDI_FETCH=0 rcpair serve. For the background service, create this settings file.

   Terminal

   mkdir -p ~/.config/systemd/user/rcpair.service.d
   cat > ~/.config/systemd/user/rcpair.service.d/override.conf <<'EOF'
   [Service]
   Environment=RCPAIR_DDI_FETCH=0
   EOF

   Then run systemctl --user daemon-reload and systemctl --user restart rcpair to apply it.

7. 7Give your agent the tools

   Do this after step 4. rcpair mcp stops with "No stored phones" until a phone is paired. These commands need the agent and RC Pair on the same computer. Running the agent on a different computer is not supported yet. Run the command for your agent on the computer where you installed RC Pair. Each command makes a key for that agent with rcpair agent add, and the phone asks you to approve the agent the first time it uses it.

   Claude

   claude mcp add rcpair -e RCPAIR_AGENT_TOKEN="$(rcpair agent add --label Claude)" -- rcpair mcp

   Codex

   codex mcp add rcpair --env RCPAIR_AGENT_TOKEN="$(rcpair agent add --label Codex)" -- rcpair mcp

   Your agent then has eleven phone tools. They are screenshot, tap, drag, type, key, button, launch, apps, release, resume and health.

   RC Pair tells your agent not to tap Apple's consent screens. It cannot stop an agent that does, so watch the phone while it works. Your agent may send what it sees to the company that runs it.